So the first tourney I went to this week was Namki’s house, a Fort Collins Bi-weekly. It was on Thursday and I drove there with Giden. I was on this tourney. My first match was against Hoji, a Dasiy main. This was a rough first round for me. They have beaten me in almost every friendly we’ve played and game one of our set looked like that would continue. I didn’t want to lose my round 1 set so I buckled down and focused on game 2. I won pretty solidly. I was calling out a lot more movement and was keeping Hoji in disadvantage. Game 3 starts and Hoji takes first stock when they were at 23%. I thought it was all over, but I went sicko. I was flying. My movement was insane. The dodging in and out lead to so many whiff punishes and grabs. I ended up winning pretty comfortably on my last stock with low %.
The next match was against a new player to town, a Krool named Avaracious J. It was typical Palu vs Krool stuff. Game 1 I did a sweet reflect on a canon ball re-shoot that killed really early. Took the first game with 1 stock and the second game with 2 stocks making it a 2-0 set for me. I feel like I had that match-up down. I use counter/reflector so much vs Krool and it seems to work so yeah.
Next was vs Acid. A Greninja for Hawaii who moved her to Foco. It’s funny how two of the top 10 players here in Foco are brown transplants and we’re both from different sides of the country. Acid is amazing. I’ve only ever taken 1 set vs him and in that same tourney, he beat me again in losers. So I wasn’t expecting to win and I didn’t. He went Kazuya game 1. The last time I played against his Kazuya I lost. After, we played some friendlies and learned how to fight Kazuya more. Kazuya is a “touch of death” character, like Ken and Ryu. You don’t want to fight him and Palu is capable of staying at a distance and not interacting. I used a bunch of projectiles and ran around him a ton. It’s also easy to reflect his neutral B so he’s not very threatening at range. After I took game 1, Acid switched to Greninja. This was different. Greninja can just run in on Palu. I was doing alright dodging some aggression, but Greninja will hit you eventually unless you’re like an amazing Steve or Pac man. Even then you probably will still get hit. Well, I got 2 stocked game 2 and then decided might as well block it up. My Steve is not amazing. I camp but not well enough to avoid Greninja pressure. Also when I get the hit, my combos aren’t great. So that was horrid. Way worse than even Palu. I couldn’t do a thing. I’m wondering if that counter pick will ever be worth it. Steve can combo the hell of Greninja if Fox is any indication, so I might decide to try it again with a different approach. I’ll go for the crazy high damaging strings, make Greninja respect me more, and then camp, limiting his approach options. All this if I deem it not possible with my Palu. It’s possible, but me specifically, I might not be up to the task.
So the first match in losers was close. It was vs GSV, a Ken main who has taken a set from me before and he was on fire that night. I wasn’t playing that well getting hit by a lot I shouldn’t have been. I woulda thought having Kazuya practice beforehand would help but Ken is way faster than him and has a way better projectile. I did end up taking game 1 but it was close. I survived a kill screen and then won the match. It was one of those. Game 2 was just as close minus the kill screen living. I took the set 2-0 but it was even closer than vs Hoji I feel. Ken is a beast and I hate fighting him. I wonder if Steve is a good idea. I’ve seen De De vs Vendetta and that makes Steve look great vs fighting game characters. And I know Vendetta. We are both from Buffalo. He’s a great guy but fuck fighting him.
Next was loser semis and it was VS Crazy a Villager main. I was ready for this. Crazy is good with Villager’s offense but I knew there was nothing Villager could do vs Steve’s camping. It was a brutal 3 stock first game. I just built a little fortress and mined to double diamond. He obviously hadn’t played a Steve before so it made sense. I basically just minecarted back and forth and killed with diamond bair and fsmash. It was your typical Steve shit. It was gross and I need help. Game 2 was a bit better. He had a bit better time with the offense getting around blocks. I think it was still a 2 stock or a fresh 1 stock.
Losers finals, Acid rematch. In the first game, I took the first stock. A nice upsmash 2 frame. After that though, it was all Acid. He turned on. He overwhelmed me with all the pressure. Games 2 and 3 were very similar. I think I got first stock every game but then lost momentum. Looking back at the VODs, I think I made a mistake retreating to the ledge. That is a horrible position to fight Greninja on. I think I need to play center stage, counter more, making him hesitant to swing widely. Also, I should work on intercepting his dash attack approaches with dtilt and his aerial approaches with uptilt.
So after Namki’s, I was feeling good. 3rd where I only lost to a top 10 player in the state ain’t bad so I was ready for Saturday at BOW. I don’t remember my first match. It was against a guy named “Should Retire” I’m pretty sure but I forget who he played. I won 2-0 if I recall but my next match was the important one.
I had to fight the second seed of the whole event round 2 and oh boy, he was good. I believe his name was Skilly. He’s Skittle’s (A top Young Link) brother. Super nice guy and a really good player. He was the first Seph I’ve ever played in tourney and wow, that’s rough. I did a lot better than I think anyone would have expected. I think I took first stock in both games and got him down to a single stock both times. I don’t recall much but one wing is stupid with Seph. It’s that 3rd jump he gets. That combined with his stupid range makes recovering or landing a nightmare. I don’t know really what more I can do. I think avoiding the ledge is important like I found out versus Acid at Namki’s. My next match would prove that to me as well.
So I did really solid VS the second seed right? Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can stomp my next guy apparently. I played a Cloud after Seph and I took a game but lost. I remember every game being really close and I remember really messing up game one thinking he would limit blade beam, using counter as Palu and the Cloud coming in for finishing touch. I think again, staying away from the ledge. The swords like Seph and Cloud can really mess you up on the ledge with their huge hitboxes covering so much space and Greninja gets his little confirms and will kill so early there. As Palu, I can teleport onto the stage but that’s dangerous too obviously so it’s really about understanding my options, keeping them on their toes on how I’m getting back.
So 1-2. Typical Denver, but hey getting 3rd at a local earlier in the week was really nice. Hopefully, next week is better. No Fort Collins Local but I’m going to try and go to two tourneys this week. Hopefully, I can apply some of these things and do a bit better in Denver for once.
Bernard Lamar Rice 